


Uh...

by BlueRoboKitty



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Apologies, Fix-It of Sorts, Flirting, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Kallura if you squint - Freeform, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, he thinks she's wonderful and that's canon, implied allurance, kallurance if you squint with a cosmic brain
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-26
Updated: 2018-08-26
Packaged: 2019-07-02 15:37:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,302
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15799485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlueRoboKitty/pseuds/BlueRoboKitty
Summary: Keith feels pretty bad about the bs he said to Allura when floating in space so he's off to apologize to her in his own Keithy way.





	Uh...

**Author's Note:**

> So this is kindof a fix-it fic but not really. I really, really didn't like what Keith said to Allura while floating in space, like that bothered me a lot. And I felt she deserved more than just a catch-all generic apology. Some may not agree, but whatever, here's a fic, anyway. This probably won't happen in canon, but from what I know of Keith's character, I can pretend this happened behind the scenes with the power of fanfic where all things are possible. I hope these two interact in S8 that's not so antagonistic. Keith thinks Allura is wonderful, after all, and I want him to be soft with her again. 
> 
> Like the tags said, this can be implied Kallura, too. Personally, I think she likes both Lance and Keith~
> 
> Also this title... idk. It feels appropriate for a Keith apology fic.

Oh, but he had really messed up this time.  
  
Keith had regretted the words the moment they had left his mouth. “It’s your father’s fault Altea was destroyed.” Well, not those exact words, but he had certainly thought them as he twisted the phrase into something more insidiously passive-aggressive in a moment of sadistic pleasure brought about by space madness.  
  
Which wasn’t too far from how he used to be, if he was being brutally honest with himself.  
  
Wow, he could be really mean.  
  
Something that he hadn’t considered back when he was a hurting child furious at the world for taking away everything he cared about so he stopped caring about anything as a — what was that word his counselor had used? — defense mechanism so he wouldn’t be hurt again. And that had seemed to work for a while, except the rage refused to go away, not completely, simmering in his gut that he’d always brushed off as bad taco meat not agreeing with him. Then Shiro happened, and then Voltron happened, and then Krolia who turned out to be the most loving, amazing woman in the entire universe who loved him so, so much happened, and those four… _those four._  
  
He cared so much for them despite his desperation not to, and that didn’t mix well with his rage that refused to let go of the little blue planet that had done him so dirty floating millions of light years away.  
  
The way Allura had looked at him. An image that burned itself permanently to the back of his mind. In all the years since his father died, never did Keith think he was capable of hurting someone that much. The rage in her eyes had been his very own, emotion for emotion. Out of all the Paladins, he should’ve been the one who understood her the most, hadn’t they both said as much late into the night cycle of the Castle’s observatory after their more trying battles they had barely won by the skin of their teeth, two leaders who had no idea if what they were doing had been the right thing or if they will ever figure out what was the right thing.  
  
_How could I have said such a thing?_  
  
A question that blared into Keith’s ears in the late night ever since the words rushed off his tongue in a charged attack more devastating than vrepit sa.  
  
Allura never mentioned it again because of course she wouldn’t, and she spoke to Keith with an even tone only when the encounter was unavoidable because experience taught her that she was a diplomat first and foremost regardless of her personal feelings, and all that emphasized the distance between them had grown farther than ever. That made it harder than her silence back when he hadn’t told her he was half-Galra, a detail of himself he had hidden from her after she poured her heart out to him in deep space. Now she acted like his words had no longer had any effect on her, which he knew wasn’t true. The way she stood at a calculated distance from him and refused to meet his gaze, all a testament to a betrayal that hurt her worse than Lotor ever could.  
  
It couldn’t go on like this.  
  
“Lance, I need a favor.”  
  
Desperate times call for desperate measures, and asking Lance of all people for a favor was pretty damn desperate.  
  
The former Blue Paladin stared at him before a shit-eating grin stretched across his cheeks beneath eyes that gleamed with all the possibilities of how Keith was going to owe him for this one. He leaned against the doorway to his own room at the Garrison, as casual as a cat wrapping itself around its owner’s legs as they poured cream in a bowl. “Yeah? What kind of favor?”

Keith took a deep breath. “I need you to get Allura to talk to me.”  
  
The grin faded, thank God, as Lance tried to process this request. _“What?_ Wait, but, didn’t you two go over mission notes together at the briefing this morning?”  
  
“This isn’t that kind of talk.”  
  
Now Lance’s eyes darkened with a worry born of insecurities and distrust, the better pilot of the two asking to speak with the girl he liked over something obviously personal. Then he shrugged, glancing around the room and pretending he couldn’t find Keith any less interesting. “Why? I mean, like, you can talk to her whenever, why me?”  
  
“Because she’ll listen to you.”  
  
Now, Keith had his full attention again as his eyes popped wide open. His cheeks flared a dramatic red, hands flailing. “Wh-what?? _Me???_ Wh-why would she do that?? _What?”_  
  
Goddammit, Lance, did he really have to spell it out for this kid? Even Keith, who couldn’t be any less invested in the affairs of his teammates’ interpersonal relationships, picked up on how Allura stole glances at Lance, the way she always sat so close to him during briefings so their hands could nearly touch, and Lance’s obliviousness would be rather cute in his own stupid way if Keith wasn’t more concerned with his own relationship with Allura.

“Unless you _don’t_ want me to talk her _alone_ for some reason?”

Those words along with the quirk of Keith’s eyebrow was all it took to snap Lance into shape, stammering and flailing as it was. “What? O-o- _of course not!_ The two of you can do whatever you want together, I don’t care. I’ll get her to talk to you, sure, no big deal — !”  
  
Keith clamped an appreciative hand on Lance’s shoulder. “Thanks, buddy.”  
  
Lance glared back at him, like he already regretted getting involved. “Yeah, anytime.”

 

* * *

  
  
He had forgotten how beautiful the stars were on Earth, as he sat there on the roof of the cadet dorms, the same roof Pidge had discovered the Galran radio signal all those years ago that would lead the five of them to Voltron. In history class, they had taught that a long time ago, before clean energy had been implemented, a smog had covered the planet so thick that not a single star could be seen. Keith couldn’t help but be grateful that no matter how shitty his life had been after his dad died, at the very least he hadn’t been born back then, growing up with a sky without stars. The stars kept him grounded during those years he had been by himself, made him not feel so alone while he waited for Shiro to return.

His life sucked after his dad died.

Oh.

Shit.

“Mind if I join you?”  
  
Allura sat down beside Keith without waiting for his acknowledgement, tucking the tunic of her Cadet jacket beneath her legs. It was warm tonight, peaceful, while the Galra out there in Earth’s orbit waited for the siege to destroy them. Sendak still had no idea the Lions had returned to the solar system as they were hiding out in Saturn’s rings, but he would find out soon enough and gentle nights like these would be no more.  
  
Earth clothes suited her. With her tiara gone on top of that, she no longer looked like the lost princess of a destroyed civilization, just an alien girl around his age dragged into war alongside him. Keith’s cheeks warmed with an extra helping of embarrassment and maybe a little bit of something else he didn’t want to think about right now or _ever._  
  
“It’s pretty out here,” he said. “Like the observatory.” Where they used to hang out together alone, Princess, nudge nudge hint hint, he was so fucking bad at this.  
  
Her gaze remained fixated on the stars. “I sometimes miss the Castle of Lions. Things seemed so much simpler back then when we were just freeing planets.”  
  
A pause.  
  
“Your planet is lovely, by the way. You Earthlings have been quite kind.” Her brows furrowed. “Although, that Admiral Sanda concerns me. I don’t know, but there’s something about her that just doesn’t feel right.”  
  
“Yeah, I got that, too.”  
  
Allura did look at him then, met his gaze for the first time in weeks, a tiny curve of a playful smile on her lips. “Is that why you called me out here? To badmouth your commander behind her back?”  
  
Locking eyes with her and catching their mischievous magenta gleam made Keith’s face heat up all over again. “N- _no!_ I just… wanted to talk…”  
  
She tilted her head, and it was so cute, and Keith was at a loss for words. No wonder Lance liked her so much. “About what?”  
  
“I guess Lance didn’t tell you.”  
  
“He seemed a little concerned about it.” She raised a slim, silver eyebrow. “But Keith, if you wanted to talk to me, you could’ve just come to me yourself.”  
  
Oh, man. He took a deep breath. “And you would’ve listened?”  
  
Unlike Mr. Oblivious who was probably watching them from around a utility unit or something, Allura knew exactly what Keith meant. A soft sigh passed her lips, and her gaze softened. “Keith… I am not angry with you. What you said… I know you hadn’t meant it. Just as I know how it important it was for you to leave with the Blade of Marmora.”  
  
“Still doesn’t make it right,” he protested. “What I said about your father was cruel and wrong. And I know it really hurt you.” His heart beat against his lungs as if trying to escape this emotional confrontation that he had allowed himself to be snared by. “I wanted to tell you that I’m sorry. Personally. You have been such a help to me when Shiro went missing, and I had no idea what I was doing while flying Black.”  
  
She squirmed as if also uncomfortable with these emotions tangling themselves around her. “Well, it wasn’t just me. I know the others were a help to you, too, especially Lance.”  
  
“Ugh.”

She elbowed his shoulder with a giggle. “Don’t be mean.”  
  
_“Uuuuuggggh.”_  
  
A small laugh drifted between them, then the air grew serious again. “I guess I’m kinda grateful to Lance for all he’s done, he’s not terrible at flying Red, at least,” Keith finally said. “But you were the one who had the most impact on me. Maybe because I saw some of myself in you, someone who was forced to lead after a sudden tragedy. But you handled everything way better than I ever could.”

Allura glanced at her feet, tucking some silver curls behind her pointed ear. “Oh, stop, I was a complete mess.”

“Still better than me! I guess that frustrated me. And it kept building until the space madness forced it out of me. It wasn’t right - “

“Keith.”

“- and I’m sorry. You are incredible.”

Perhaps that was the wrong thing to say, too. The look she gave him now was not one of rage but the kind of regret that mothered nightmares. “I let Lotor get close to us. It’s all my fault he nearly completed his vision of the universe, a universe where all the Galra are dead. _All_ of them, even the good Galra. The Blades, your mother… and you.”

Keith regarded her a moment. “You didn’t know,” he said very, very softly. The same words he said long ago, that day when they escaped the alternate reality, and Lotor snatched the transreality comet away from them. Then a small smile teased his lips. “You just believe in bringing peace to the universe a bit too much.”

She laughed, fully, bubbly and warm that caused warm bubbly feelings in his gut, and he couldn’t blame the taco meat this time.  

“I have something for you that I hope makes up for my being a bit of a jackass to you lately.”  
  
She leaned closer to him, eyes wide with curiously, when he presented the box that had been sitting beside him, opening it to reveal a marble dessert topped with berries and chocolate drizzle. “We call it cheesecake,” he explained as he placed a slice on a plate and handed it to her. “It’s literally the most delicious thing on Earth. Okay, it’s not exactly Trfuliar cake but it’s Cheesecake Factory so close enough.”  
  
Allura took a bite and squealed with delight. “Keith, this cheesecake is amazing! It’s _divine!_ ” She ate a few more bites, happily chewing, then suddenly stopped, looking at Keith with narrowing, suspicious eyes with her fork dangling just in front of her mouth. “What’s it made of?”  
  
“You already ate half of your slice, and you’re _now_ seriously asking what it’s made of?” He couldn’t believe this girl sometimes who just acted like such a, well, _girl._  
  
“Not my fault I couldn’t resist this temptation you just handed me,” she shot back.  
  
“Then just eat it and don’t worry about it. Like you’re already doing.”  
  
“It’s too delicious,” she mumbled with a full mouth.  
  
“It’s not made out of anything bad, I promise.”  
  
Allura groaned. “I just still can’t get the image of Lance milking Kaltenecker out of my mind.” Then she shoved another piece of cheesecake in her mouth.  
  
Oh, he was definitely not telling her where cheese came from, then.  
  
“I suppose I can forgive you,” she said as she set her empty plate down and reached for another slice, “if you promise when this war is over that you will share more of your delightful cheesecake with me like this.”  
  
Keith blinked, face warm, and tried not to think about how Lance would react to that invitation. “Yeah,” he said, a smile forming on his lips that matched her own. “Yeah, I can do that.”  
  
They sat in silence together until their dessert disappeared, gazing at the stars like they used to do together, the cheesecake and a stronger friendship the only change between them.


End file.
